I See Red
by Shadow of an Echo
Summary: Avengers tower is being rebuilt after Loki's attack and Tony is beginning to feel like he is running a hotel for superheroes. Fury first dumps a teenaged arachnid on him, followed by two super spies, a Norse god, one green rage monster, and a Capsicle. Now add in a bored mutant with rampant cleptomania and a truly psychotic mercenary and you get one very twitchy Iron Man.
1. The Itsy Bitsy Spider

I See Red

A/N I truly have no business starting another story. All I know is I'm restless and frustrated with my health and doctors so I just want a change of pace. I have been playing around in the anime fandoms for so long now they are like old sweaters, comfortable and familiar but just not what I need right now. They haven't been holding my attention like they should, and anything I've tried to write for them has been crap. I've dabbled a bit in the Marvel universe but I have never posted anything, so hopefully playing with fresh characters in a different world will help me break through my little wall.

As far as world goes, this is mainly going off the Marvel cinematic universe as it is much easier to follow than the many, many generations of comics. Though I have read quite a bit of Marvel and will sprinkle a few tidbits in, such as Hawkeye being deaf. For Spider-Man I remember the Toby Maguire ones vaguely, but to be perfectly honest I haven't watched them since they were in theaters, so I am basing my characterization solely off of Andrew Garfield's version plus a sprinkling of comics just like the Avengers.

The X-Men characters I am bringing in are Gambit and Deadpool, because of this I am automatically rating the story M, I think it may be barely possible to write Deadpool at a T level, but in all honesty I swear like a sailor myself and I happen to like his flirtatious personality, plus I'm a Sociology/Psychology double major in college so the whole insanity aspect is freaking interesting to me. I WANT to write Deadpool with the M rating in other words. As for Gambit, I am going almost solely off the comics for this one, I love his characterization. I prefer characters who are chaotic neutral or those that are more or less bribed to be good, and make it very obvious it is a choice what side they fight for. I think it makes things interesting when you really aren't sure what's going to happen from one issue to the next, otherwise it gets too predictable.

Pairings in this one are loose and flexible. I don't really want to write graphic anything, het or slash, so I'm just going to put a bunch of attractive flirtatious people together in a room and push some boundaries. People with delicate sensibilities might not like this story, but there isn't going to be any heavy smut, so overall this is a gen fic.

Chapter One

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Tony glared sharply at Fury, then pleadingly at Pepper, before landing a suspicious gaze on the lanky teen standing in his still rubble coated living room. "I don't remember signing up for babysitting duty." He grumbled. No amount of red and blue spandex could hide the gangly look of a teenager still not filled out, this guy was still mostly arms and legs, though his vigilante work had given him nicely muscled shoulders and a strong core, it didn't cancel out the basic biology of being not quite full grown.

"And I didn't sign up for the old folk's home," The new guy shot back, his voice strong and clear, even through the mask covering his face. Though the tone still sounded young, very young, definitely a kid under all that spandex to Tony's horror.

"Stark, behave yourself." Fury warned, not bothering to correct the teen which just made Tony more irritated, which was Fury's goal actually. "Spider-Man here needs a place to stay while his Aunt recovers in the hospital from the injuries sustained in the Chitauri invasion while her nephew was helping us, call it payment for services rendered."

"I get that," Tony defended, "But why _here_?" He whined.

"Where else do you suggest we house him? Thanks to that damn Daily Bugle, a good portion of New York thinks he's one step shy of Loki, so suck it up Stark and get a guest room ready." Fury demanded, staring down Iron-Man even as Pepper tapped away on her tablet, updating the security protocols on the Tower to recognize Spider-Man as an occupant.

Tony glowered, knowing he'd lost this battle the moment Pepper had gotten involved. She was always trying to make him more responsible. That whole puppy incident was her idea, though he did have to admit she had chosen wisely as the dog neither shed nor barked too much, but as Shih Tzus were little more than living rugs, there really wasn't much he could do with it and the money gained from the charity auction had funded his Candyland laboratory for a month and the little girl whose parents had won the puppy in the auction had looked pleased with the dog if a little spoiled in the riding frock was anything to go by.

"Do I at least get to know the kid's name?" Tony burst out, running a hand through his already messy hair and stalking towards his fully stocked bar. First aliens, and now arachnids, what did he ever do to the letter a to make it hate him?

Fury smirked and spared a glance at the stubbornly silent vigilante next to him, "That's actually a good question, maybe he'll tell you what he wouldn't tell us."

Tony jerked his head up and spun around, nothing but sheer practice preventing him from spilling the amber contents of his short glass all over himself, "Wait, there is actually something SHIELD _doesn't_ know about him? And you're okay with this?"

Fury just shrugged. "Unlike some other people in the room, anonymity is something he worked very hard to achieve."

"So you just want me to open up my tower to some dorky kid in a mask without knowing a thing about him, and be perfectly fine with this?" Tony demanded incredulously, downing about two shots worth of scotch at once, letting the burn take the edge off his rage. He needed that, and was sorely tempted to pour himself another, but it wasn't even two yet and Pepper was still in the room. She would filet him if he so much as touched the bottle again before the sun went down.

"I'm not a dork!" Spider-Man defended himself once the tirade seemed to ebb for a moment, "Geek maybe, but not a dork."

Tony just raised an eyebrow at him, "Oh really? Then what's the difference?" When silence was the only answer, his lips curled up into a smirk. "Thought so. Please, just tell me you're not a minor and I'll feel a lot better about this." More silence, and actually three heads turned to look at the suited up superhuman.

Peter was glad for the mask, because his face was an identical bright red at the moment, "Ah about that, not so much, I'm seventeen."

"You have got to be kidding!" Tony protested, pinching the ridge between his eyes, not wanting to look at Fury on the off chance he got the crazy urge to punch him… again. He wasn't sure he could stop himself this time. "You really are making me babysit!"

"Hey! I've had my abilities for longer than you've had the suit!" Peter protested, getting irritated with all the slights. "Look I'm young, I get it, but I've been at this for a few years now. Quit discounting me just because of how old I am alright? I'll be gone just as soon as Aunt May is better, and really is it such a surprise I'm not eighteen yet? If I wasn't a minor I wouldn't need to ask for a place to stay I could just go home, but I can't. Sorry it's such a freaking inconvenience for everyone."

"Don't listen to him," Pepper advised, trying to diffuse the situation. "I don't see there being any problem with giving you a place to stay for a while, even with the damage caused by the battle we still have plenty of rooms. May I ask what happened to your Aunt? That way we can prepare for how long you may be with us."

"She was shot by one of the Chitauri," He reported, his rage obvious with every clipped word, "My Aunt is a nurse and after I left to help fight off the invasion she went to help the people evacuating. They didn't like that she was giving people hope and tried to take her away, I managed to get back in time to deflect the shot so it didn't kill her but the hospital said it will take a few weeks to heal up. The guns the Chitauri used, they didn't fire normal bullets and the wounds don't heal like a typical gunshot."

"We kept at least one of every kind of gun we found, Bruce and I are running every test we can think of on them; this aside from what SHIELD itself is doing with the ones they took from the battle." Tony spoke slowly with his eyes narrowing on the fuming teen. "Ever since the battle with the Lizard I've kept an eye on you, can't say I'm thrilled to have you dropped on my door step but if you're here you will make yourself useful. Do that and we just might be able to heal your Aunt and the others that were shot with a Chitauri weapon a little faster. That's the goal anyway."

"You want me to help in the lab?" This time only two people showed genuine surprise at the sheer thrill in the young voice, as Fury was not in any way shocked.

"Don't get too worked up kid, as long as you can tell the difference between 1/16 and 1/32 we can use you. I never said you would actually _touch_ any of the weapons. That is a whole new level of clearance you just don't have. Tell him One-Eye, someone doesn't have a permission slip for this ride." Tony just wanted a gopher, the idea of the teen doing anything more than handing them screwdrivers and brewing coffee drove him dangerously close to an aneurysm.

Fury glanced at Peter again, the indignation rising off him like a cloud, "You should show him what you have on your wrist." He advised calmly; showing was worth more than telling when it came to Iron Man.

"This is getting ridiculous," Peter grumbled as he released the web shooter from his left wrist; leaving the one on his dominant hand just in case.

Tony caught the small object easily before inspecting it carefully. "I take it you built this or there wouldn't have been any point in showing me, so straight to the point then. How long ago did you make this?"

"This pair is about six months old, but the original design is from two years ago." Peter admitted, a touch of pride entering his voice. "I haven't really messed with the design much since then because they work great."

"We'll just have to see about that," Tony tried to keep the excitement out of his voice, but at the very least Pepper heard it and Fury suspected that the young Spider just earned a little respect.

Tony Stark had once turned a box of scraps into an arc reactor to save his own hide, now this skinny little kid had turned what looked like a pile of spare parts and an old watch into a sophisticated device that effectively turned New York into his own personal jungle gym. Not bad. For an amateur anyway.

He turned the web shooter over and saw the silver cartridge loaded inside, "I figured your webbing wasn't coming from you personally, so what is it?" Every news cast of Spider-Man made sure to get a good long look at him swinging from building to building, somehow managing to look graceful dangling from the end of the thin strands even if he happened to have rounds of bullets flying at him, so not hard to guess what was in the canister.

"Originally it was a bio-cable bought from Oscorp." Peter answered promptly, seeing no need to lie. "My girlfriend works there and she ran a sample of it with their equipment so I can synthesize it myself now instead of having to mail order it all the time. I was afraid the regular order would give me away and I didn't want to resort to stealing. Despite what the news says I'm not a criminal."

"You did copy the formula of what has to be a patented product though," Tony pointed out, but considering his grin he didn't seem to care this his biggest rival in the science industry was missing out on a regular sale. "That is beyond the grey side of legal, and you know it."

"Actually, I didn't copy the _exact_ formula. I kinda used it as a base and played around with it until I made it my own thing." Peter admitted. "Still not exactly legal, but better than straight up taking it I guess. Plus, it would be nearly impossible to reproduce the real thing, not unless I wanted to herd a gigantic hive of large radioactive spiders; which -despite my name- trust me, I do not."

"And when in the Hell did you manage that!?" Tony was even less able to hold in his shock this time around, and the excitement that had sparked with seeing the webshooters was growing as he realized this kid had potential beyond punching muggers in back alleys; that's what Cap was for.

"I didn't manage a stable version until a year ago, I considered it my sweet sixteen present," Peter responded with a shrug. "I'm decent at engineering and physics, but better at biology and chemistry."

Tony glanced down at the homemade contraption in his hand and felt a little thrill; if this was decent, what was better? "Okay, so maybe this might not be so bad." He grudgingly admitted.


	2. Superhero

I See Red

Shadow of an Echo

A/N I have to confess I have not been able to track down whether Cerebro works on Mutates like Deadpool and Spider-Man (those that gained their mutations from a means other than birth). I am going with the theory that they fall in the void between human and mutant and are therefore a blind-spot in Cerebro's calibration and can't be seen on it unless Xavier is specifically looking for them. This is my own fan theory and is probably wrong on at least some level, so I apologize now for the inaccuracy.

Chapter Two

Superhero

Bruce Banner knew he could get a little distracted when he was deep into a project, one could even say he was down-right absentminded, but he was pretty sure he would remember the arrival of a suited up vigilante no matter how interesting the Chitauri weapons were. "Ah, Tony, when did Spider-Man get here? And why is he sleeping on your couch?" Bruce finally just came out and asked when he eventually stumbled out of the lab and saw the passed out teen.

"Fury dropped him off, kid needed a place to stay," The billionaire explained with a huff, but luckily Peter's little display of intelligence had relieved enough of his annoyance Tony was now more irritated that Fury hadn't given him a choice in the matter. "As to why he's on the couch, probably because that's all the further he got before he keeled over. I don't think he's slept since the invasion."

Bruce blinked slowly a few times, just trying to absorb it all. "…You do realize it's been three days; right?"

"Four actually," Pepper interrupted smoothly, "But the first forty-eight hours were a bit of a blur for all of us so I won't hold it against you _too_ much." Despite the light teasing there was a note of disapproval in her voice regarding the doctor's current disheveled appearance. Him and Tony both had a bad habit of forgetting to take care of themselves when they were working on something, she already had to march into the lab and shove food down their throats and put them to bed once. She had just been getting ready to do it again when Fury showed up with Spider-Man.

Tony rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous tick, "It's the only explanation I have for why it took so long for Fury to bring him here. I mean if the kid really had no other place to go then why wait so long? My guess is Spidey tried everywhere _except_ here first. If he worked so hard to keep his identity secret, then the last thing he would want is to get on SHIELD's radar."

"You may have a point there," Bruce agreed, until he realized another possibility. "Unless he was hurt in the battle and needed the time to heal?"

"We would have heard about it," Tony pointed out, "The news likes to report on him, as Fury oh so kindly brought up in his guilt trip, this kid gets made out to be a villain a good bit of the time. If he was discovered all battered and bruised they would have unmasked him without remorse, minor or not. That Spider-Man came out to play with the big boys for once would have made the media circus surrounding Loki's attack at the very least, he's normally content dealing with petty crime."

That made a certain amount of sense, so Bruce decided to move on from there. "So now what? Did Fury ask us to interrogate him or something? Because I'm not okay with that." All of the Avengers had entertained themselves by watching Spider-Man's exploits long before the team had been brought together by Fury. He was interesting to see develop, and with the exception of Steve, he was the first of them to show up in the media with the whole hero gig. It hadn't taken long for the team to connect the dots and realize that despite being the first, he was likely the youngest of the public superheroes even if the Daily Bugle was having trouble figuring out whether he was a hero or a pest.

Bruce had been curious enough to make a few quiet inquiries to confirm his suspicions, and was rewarded with some interesting answers. Professor Xavier was doing his best to keep his school off the radar, the mutant teens inside protected by high stone walls and fully trained adults. Spider-Man didn't have that. Bruce had discovered the young man did not show up on Cerebro's regular sweeps or Xavier would have already brought him into the school if he was a mutant, or alerted Fury if he was just a very well trained human like Hawkeye. Whatever had given the teen his unusual skills, it was not a natural process much like with Cap and Deadpool.

He was broken out of his thoughts by Tony answering his question, "Fury just wants us to watch him. That's it. Seems a little fishy that it isn't fishy if you know what I mean though. They don't even know the kid's name for crying out loud, but he didn't seem bothered." That was still making Tony antsy and it was obvious.

"You don't think Fury is just respecting his privacy?" At the completely incredulous stare and disbelieving scoff, Bruce retracted the statement, "Alright, even I admit that's a stretch."

"I think it's pretty simple," Pepper interrupted again, before the two males could think themselves into a trap. "It's not that _Fury_ doesn't want to know. I think he is deliberately trying to keep this boy away from SHIELD, or he would have never brought him within twenty miles of you Tony. He knows you won't do anything he wants you to, and I think this time he's banking on it."

"JARVIS, make a note, Pep gets a raise." Tony commented offhandedly to his AI, acknowledging the true genius in their midst before moving on. "So how do we play this cat and mouse game without letting the cat know the mouse is having fun?"

"A lot is going to depend on him I think," Bruce realized, gesturing to the sleeping teen. "Just how much he wants to keep hidden. We could just keep calling him Spider-Man, and just not ask his name or personal details. I get the feeling you would not be okay with that though."

Tony felt a shiver go up his spine, "Not one bit. He stays here, he spills the truth, end of discussion. _He_ might be just fine sleeping without knowing who is around, but some of us have made good friends with our paranoia. It is my precious and I like it that way."

"Then don't save a single bit of data to JARVIS, and definitely no pictures if he does end up taking off his mask. Nothing SHIELD could use for facial recognition if they got serious in looking for him." Bruce advised again, he had attempted to go off the radar for a very long time. He had more or less forced Clint -the less intimidating of the spies on the team- to explain how exactly SHIELD kept tabs on people. With or without internet, because damn it he had been in areas of the world at times that didn't even have reliable plumbing let alone cell service or internet.

"Now I'm offended," Tony claimed in a completely affronted tone. "I hack them, not the other way around, but I see your point."

"There is another question in all this," Bruce realized, ignoring Tony's penchant for dramatics. "If Pepper is right, then why is Fury trying to hide him from SHIELD?"

"Fury brought us together against the wishes of the World Security Council. Loki made his hand tilt before he was ready and it had us scrambling, I wasn't even supposed to be on the team as a combatant at all. He was going to drop me out." Tony admitted. "Fury knew lying to me about the Avengers was the fastest ticket to pissing me off, so I probably knew more about the Initiative than the rest of you did combined. This though, this is new. Best guess is Fury wants a few aces up his sleeve only the Avengers know are working for him. You've seen the footage on this guy; Spidey here seems like as good a place as any to start."

"Fury brought him here because Spider-Man needed us though," Pepper pointed out calmly, "Do you think he is going to wait for more opportunities like that to just fall in his lap, or should we be prepared for more well, proactive, ways of gaining company?"

"If I know Fury, and I do, it will be a bit of both." Tony stated firmly. "Some people he will take as they come, others he will specifically look for. He has people he wants for this, I just know it, but I don't know exactly who those people are."

A soothing mechanical voice washed over them, "Sir, should I prepare the guest floors for habitation?" Everything in the tower was automated, from the doors to the coffee pots, this was not an impossible request for JARVIS despite the lack of physical body.

"Sounds like a plan JARVIS." Tony agreed, even as he felt his blood pressure rising and migraine forming. This was going to be very interesting to see just who Fury decided to dump on his lap next. A soft snore from a dead-to-the-world arachnid did nothing to calm the feeling of foreboding building in his mind, not one little bit.

No one was real surprised when their unexpected guest slept the clock around, Tony's suspicions of his state of sleep deprivation proving correct at least in his own mind.

JARVIS had been watching over the boy, and when he showed signs of waking up, the AI had alerted the others so by the time his brain was feeling a little more put together Tony, Bruce, and Pepper were back in the room with him. The way the kid's bones snapped and popped when he stretched suggested maybe, just maybe, sleeping for so long without moving was something he was quite possibly regretting.

"Finally back in the world of the coherent eh Spidey?" Tony teased as the teen let out a massive yawn, one clearly seen through the mask that was still securely over the kid's face.

"It's been a long couple of days," He managed to mumble, before face planting back onto the couch cushions in a boneless heap. Yep, exhausted; no real surprise there though. They had all dealt with the invasion in their own way. Tony was pretty sure Cap was still trying to come down from the war buzz, there was a good chance the first Avenger still hadn't slept yet. Unfortunately combat was kind of what he was bred for, only no one had any idea how to get him down from the weird almost high the Chitauri invasion had put him in. Thor had recognized it, but hadn't been able to help Steve much before he needed to take Loki back to Asgard. Though that help mainly consisted in beating Steve into the training room mats repeatedly, there really wasn't many on the team that could safely challenge Steve. Bruce didn't want to bring the Other Guy into this.

"So we have some questions for you." Tony shook himself out of his thoughts and concentrated on the vigilante. "We think we know why Fury brought you to us, and more importantly, why in the hell the leader of the spies doesn't want to know your name. Has he said anything to you about it?" He would not tell the kid their theory unless he proved to either have or not have his own information. Tony would not chance contaminating whatever the kid might know with what he thought they wanted to hear.

"He warned me that this would happen, and that I should trust your judgement." Spider-man responded, actually making Tony's jaw drop. "What? You're freaking Iron Man, the Avenger who turned his life around the most. Yes, I include Widow. She didn't change everything about herself, just who she fought for. You had a life that would make Bruce Wayne jealous, and when you saw Hell you decided to become Batman and let people know it. If someone wants to hurt the world they have to go through you. I fight because I can, I was taught that with power comes responsibility. You though, you created your power and made it your responsibility. Why wouldn't I trust in your judgement after that?"

Tony's jaw was now semi-permanently affixed to the floor, Bruce was holding back laughter at his expression, and Pepper was blinking back a tear or two in a cross between laughter and genuine emotion at the amount of honesty and respect the teen was showing to Tony in the way he spoke.

"You know what? Imma gonna hug you!" Tony sing-songed, figuring if he was the butt of a joke, then Spidey sure as hell could be too.

A short tussle, a squeak, and a distressed yelp later and Iron Man was playfully wrestling Spider-Man on the floor after pulling him off the couch, the later very carefully not using enough strength to actually hurt the former. It did not take long for the younger hero to show he had enhanced strength and flexibility, pinning Tony until the elder tapped out and rolled away chuckling heartily.

He looked up to see Peter's mask askew, the teen giving up and just pulling it off, all Tony had to see was the messy tangle of fluff that was his hair and the hint of dimples at his cheeks before he realized what was coming next. There was a soft aww that would probably have gone unnoticed if the room wasn't dead silent as everyone tried to get a good look at Spider-Man. Tony spared a glance at a now blushing Pepper, before breaking the silence, "Okay that's just not fair, first the dimples, _and_ you're freaking fluffy? What's next, saving kittens from a burning building?"

"Well, actually there was this one time.." Yes, Peter enjoyed being a brat.

The glare from Tony, Pepper's praise, and Bruce's quiet but steady laughter was more than worth it though.


	3. Something to Talk About

I See Red

Shadow of an Echo

A/N I am using some of the Black Widow background from the COMICS in this one, why? Because I prefer the Widow storyline from the comicverse rather than the cinematic universe, same with Hawkeye. I won't pull in too much, just because I know how confusing it can get if all you are going off of is the movies, and that's what most people use. Basically I solemnly swear to not include anything more than what can be found on the first page of the marvel WIKI on these characters. So essentially, basic info, just comicverse instead of movieverse.

As for the psychological admittances of certain characters, that is not canon in any verse that I am aware of, but they make the most sense to me from what I have watched/read of Marvel, compared to what I learn in school. One of my majors is psychology, but as a caveat my normal focus is on identity formation and bullying habits in children, so while I find mental illness interesting it isn't my focus in school and I may get information wrong, but I will be more than happy to correct anything if you do find inaccuracies in my stories. I do not get offended if you wish to send me PM or review pointing out an error, I would like this story to be BOTH enjoyable and accurate so feel free to enlighten me if I happen to get something wrong.

Chapter Three

Something To Talk About

Tony eyed up the small circle of people surrounding him and the take-out menu situated in the center of the kitchen island, his gaze landing specifically on the newcomer in their midst. "Alright Spidey, fess up, on a scale of 1 to Thor, how much do you eat?" He flat out asked Peter, having his fair share of encounters with super-humans.

"Plague of starved locusts," Peter admitted with a slight blush and guilty shrug, "I'm a teenaged boy most of us eat like wolves, only for me it's kind of enhanced because my abilities gave me the metabolism of a shrew, plus I haven't exactly eaten in a while." He let the statement hang.

"Right, so bottomless pit it is then," Tony realized. "After seeing what Cap can do to innocent pizza you don't scare me."

Tony placed the large order with his favorite pizza joint while Pepper's attention fixed itself on Peter, "Just how long is 'awhile'?"

"Ah, I grabbed something from the hospital cafeteria when they admitted Aunt May, so right after the battle. Been helping with rescue efforts and trying to find somewhere to stay since then." Peter was well trained to respond to authoritative females, Aunt May and Gwen were his world and he loved them. The fact he couldn't prevent his aunt from getting injured was eating at him but he was doing his best to avoid thinking about it until he was alone.

"That's not good for anyone kid," Bruce spoke up, "You can't run yourself into the ground like that, especially if your body has a sped up metabolism, I'm surprised you made it this far without passing out if that's all you had on top of fighting the Chitauri."

"I may or may not have passed out on a rooftop before tracking down Fury, that's what made me suck it up and go to him to be honest. I couldn't hold out any more." Peter admitted.

"Shit, you're lucky no one found the freaking spider kid unconscious and decided to have some good old fashioned unmasking fun," Tony pointed out, knowing full well Peter would realize the same thing, but something that lucky deserved to be mentioned out in the open.

"I know, I know, but I couldn't be completely sure SHIELD wouldn't turn around and do exactly that to me the moment I turned up next to them. I've managed to avoid them for two years so far, was not particularly happy about needing to ask for help now." The surly look on his face was just so perfectly teen angst that it made Bruce and Pepper smile, while Tony fought the urge to smirk; though all three adults did feel his pain a bit considering they understood the sentiment.

"So why did you risk Fury of all agents? Why not a random suit that you might have been able to hustle?" Tony asked curiously, that's what he would have tried.

"Because if I had any chance at all of keeping my identity secret I had to start at the top," Peter pointed out. "I would've had to jump through thirty billion flaming hoops to get somewhere if I had started anywhere other than the director. It helps that he is one of the more recognizable faces of SHIELD so I knew who to look for when I broke down enough to finally go for it. Fury has approached me a time or two before while I was on patrol but I turned him down, I had too much at stake, but now I didn't have a choice. I was not putting Gwen and her family in that much danger by staying with them for so long and there is literally no one else I can ask. If I couldn't scrounge up a guardian the hospital mentioned CPS –they might have let a few days on my own slide but not a couple weeks- and, well, I really didn't want to go down that road."

"Yeah, guessing CPS might cut down on the whole vigilante running around in spandex thing," Tony snorted.

Peter gave him a flatly unimpressed look, "I think the alien army flattening half of Manhattan would have some impact on petty crime, I'm guessing Spider-Man could take a break for a while. Mainly I just don't really trust new people, particularly cops, they don't exactly make the best impression when they start shooting at me. I have a healing factor but bullet wounds are a bitch to heal." Peter added, entire body perking up with interest as the elevator dinged, the pizza delivery guy weighed down with several large boxes of melty goodness that he was quickly relieved of by the enthusiastic tower occupants.

"Language," Bruce chastised because it was the responsible adult thing to do, a heartbeat before Pepper followed suit, while Tony just high fived him under the table keeping his encouragement out of their line-of-sight.

"You two sound like Cap." Tony whined, "You have to admit the kid's got a point, its hell dealing with gunshots." He added while grabbing a slice from the closest box and promptly burning all his taste buds on cheese that was just next to nuclear level hot.

Bruce ignored Tony's theatrics and focused on something he found much more interesting, "How good is your healing factor?"

"Not as good as Wolverine or Deadpool, but about even with Captain America from what I've been able to tell. A clean shot takes anywhere between three days to a week to heal depending on where it is, if the bullet breaks or gets stuck; hits bone; etc, then it gets a bit more complicated. Bruises and knife wounds take anywhere from over-night to forty-eight hours, and I do scar, I'm not sure if Captain America does." Peter reported, curious about the older scientist. He knew about Bruce Banner, if anything he was more relevant to Peter's scientific interest than Tony was.

"He does, but only for particularly bad wounds, same with Natasha and me actually." Bruce informed. "The three of us have all had versions of the super soldier serum, Steve obviously is the only one with the complete version. Mine was mutated with gamma radiation, and Natasha's was incomplete, it helps her durability and aging but she did not inherit the strength or size that was the original intention, thankfully she also managed to avoid the worst of the mental side-effects Erskine had eliminated from the complete formula while I ended up with some of them; particularly a leaning towards bipolar depression and amusingly enough considering the circumstances Dissociative Identity Disorder."

Peter thought about it for a few minutes, mindlessly devouring half a pizza while doing so to the bemusement of the adults since he did not appear to be slowing down any time soon; he was certainly not kidding about the locust thing. After swallowing the bite in his mouth he tentatively asked, "Can I ask what may be a few rude questions? I just, really like science, and genetics is kind of my thing. I'm a product of cross-species experimentation so it isn't like I can judge, but I am very, very curious. Also in return you can ask something about me and my powers, a quid pro quo kind of deal."

"You can't ask me anything that someone else hasn't, but there are things I won't answer, as long as you respect that I don't have a problem with you asking some questions." Bruce figured that was pretty fair, and was a far more generous offer than any reporter would ever get, Peter had definitely approached the subject in the right way to even get that much of an agreement out of him.

"How much do you remember from when you're the Hulk?" Peter started slowly, trying to find a baseline of what was allowed and what wasn't.

"Not much, also, I don't like that name, I prefer calling him the Other Guy if you don't mind." Bruce corrected. "To answer a little better. It's a blur even at the best of times and it depends a lot on what brought him out. A surprise transformation is the worst, I remember almost nothing. As for my question, let's start with something easy, you said you were a result of cross-species experimentation I think we can guess but let's not assume here. Which species?"

Considering Peter had just inserted almost an entire slice of pizza into his mouth, they had to wait a few moments for him to answer, "Sorry, but this is really good," He stated enthusiastically, "My genetic code includes spider DNA, this came after I was bitten by a genetically engineered spider that I later learned my father and another scientist invented. Oh and fun fact they just so happen to be radioactive. My blood, plus their venom, equals Spider-Man." Peter eventually managed to explain.

Bruce's eyes widened when he heard about the spiders, "Your father wouldn't happen to have been Richard Parker or Curtis Connors would he?"

Peter's shoulder's tensed and his head shot up, brown eyes panicked, "How do you know those names?"

"Because I know that research, the spider project," Bruce spoke calmly, attempting to sooth the frazzled nerves of the teen who looked like he was about to bolt. They didn't need to be chasing him around the tower like a startled rabbit. "I looked into the project when I was working on my version of the serum, well, more precisely my own father discovered it and he left all the research he did to me. I never met them myself, only my father did, but the men were definite geniuses no doubt about it."

Peter slowly perked up, and a grin showed itself on his face, dimples and all, making Tony eye up Pepper who was making those damn cooing noises again. If he had known this was going to happen he would have kept the freaking puppy, or you know Thor with that whole lovable Labrador thing going on. Peter's eyes shifted from adult to adult before confronting them directly, "Exactly how much of this gets back to Fury, or SHIELD?"

"JARVIS hasn't recorded a peep or a frame of you since One-eye left," Tony assured. "I may be an Avenger but that does not mean I like SHIELD, and I definitely do not trust them. Fury knows it. You get a free pass this trip Spider kid."

If anyone had asked Tony if he thought he would be intimidated by a seventeen year-old's stare down yesterday he would have laughed in their face, now he was fighting back the urge to gulp. The teen had just completely transformed from cute almost puppy-like potential mascot, to a force of justice that weighed down on him and reminded him the kid had been in the vigilante business longer than himself. Jesus the kid was tough and he'd seen a vision of hell; it showed in his eyes as he held his ground against a man captured and held prisoner in a war torn cave with shards of metal trying to carve its way into his chest. Peter was a fighter, and more importantly, he was fighting FOR something that he was desperately trying to protect.

It only lasted a few moments, and Peter must have liked what he found, because he broke the unannounced staring contest and went back to his pizza calmly, finishing the slice before beginning to speak at a slow stilted pace. "My name is Peter Parker, my parents were Richard and Mary and they were both geneticists. I learned my father had done a few, well, uh… geez there really isn't a kind way to say this, experiments on me when I was very young. It didn't cause me to mutate, at least not right then, but it did give me a baseline so that I could eventually accept a cross-species gene without side-effects. A very specific gene as it turned out, the one from the spiders he had bred with his research partner Dr. Connors. It was actually a complete accident that I was bitten. My parents died when I was six so when I found out my father's connection to Conners and Oscorp I snuck in when I was fifteen trying to find more information about my dad, maybe find Dr. Connors, but I got lost and stumbled into the room they were keeping the spiders in and one got me on the back of the neck. I've been like this ever since."

All three listening adults were stunned into silence, but Tony was never quiet for long and he was first to recover, "You know, I have no idea if that was a lot of good luck, bad luck, or a whole bunch of both."

"To be perfectly honest I don't have a freaking clue either," Peter admitted before peering hopefully into the last box and seeing nothing but grease stains and a lonely olive, his face fell.

"Well this calls for drastic measures," Tony declared, rifling through the top drawer of the island that was stuffed to the brim with menus, "Desert it is then."

Peter started to protest. "No really it's okay, I was just…"

"You were just nothing," Tony cut him off, "Look I've been feeding people a lot lately, some of which eat as much as you if not more. Relax kid. Let me guess, you live with normal people and try to hide how much your body really needs?"

Peter wouldn't look him in the eye, but he did eventually mutter a reply, "Yes, especially at school. I'm pretty much always hungry. I got used to it, so really it's fine."

"No, it isn't." The authority in Pepper's voice made all the males in the room straighten their backs and look at her for directions. It was worse than when Steve lead the team in the field, and he was actually trained to give orders. "No one knowingly goes hungry in this tower, it is bad enough I have to make sure Tony and Bruce actually manage to eat and sleep somewhat regularly I won't have you following in their footsteps. You will eat until you are full young man, and that's final."

"Now you've done it, when Pep's on a warpath everyone ducks." Tony teased a bit, but he was actually being serious. Peter might want to watch himself for a while. He took matters into his own hands just like with the pizza and started ordering from a variety of places, whatever struck his fancy that sounded both tasty and filling; he could pick up on what wasn't said just as well as Pepper and Bruce thank you very much. The kid needed calories and wasn't getting them normally.

"Peter, we got off track a bit, you were asking me questions first but it got turned around on you. I'm still willing to answer if you want to keep going that way?" Bruce decided to deflect a bit of attention away from their youngest companion, they needed a bit of time to absorb information anyway. That was a lot to take in, although it did kind of sound like they had another addition to the not so great parenting club populated by a good portion of the Avengers.

Peter nodded, "I was wondering if your memory lapses, and the fact the Other Guy and you are separate entities might be linked with the DID you mentioned earlier. Ever looked into that?"

"Actually yes," Bruce admitted. "Once I calmed down from the initial shock of having the Other Guy at all, I started trying to figure him out, not just the physical part of what went wrong but how we were different mentally. Obviously it's kind of hard to sit down with a psychologist when I'm not myself, so a lot of it is looking at footage of his rampages and piecing things together from there. As close as I can tell the stress of the serum made my mind break first, into me and him, then the physical affects took hold of the one of us in charge at the time –him- and changed the Other Guy into what you see during our battles. The only thing is, despite that making sense on paper, I can't figure out why the serum would have only affected one personality and not the other, even if we are psychologically two different people biologically we are the same."

"Could the serum have a trigger?" Peter's question was driven by both compassion and scientific curiosity. "The same thing that causes the change in personality could be triggering the serum to respond, or dissipate. As you said Captain America is the only one to have a successful version, this one is incomplete. What is stopping your version from not being activated unless called upon by specific circumstances?"

"Holy shit!" Tony's outburst was not even commented on the others were so stunned, that was enough to make Peter turn red again.

Bruce visibly shook himself, "Okay, now you have my attention, what could have possibly made you think of that? Not that I'm complaining, but every other version of the serum we've come across has been a constant reaction in the body."

"Two things, one both mental health conditions you mentioned, bipolar and DID involve cycling between two or more extremes; while one is obviously a bit more intense it's the cycling part I notice. The coming and going of the manic/depressive cycle, or switching between one persona and the other. If your system is already predisposed to a cycle, why couldn't the serum follow a similar pattern? Also there is something else, and this is another thing I would really like to keep out of SHIELD's possession." He waited for nods of agreement before continuing. "After I was bitten I actually did find Dr. Conners and I worked with him on his research on cross-species genetics. Not the same field, I know, but we were making a serum to regrow amputated limbs and one of the permutations we computed actually did need to be triggered before it would take effect; it would not be immediate upon injection like the spider venom was with me."

"That is amazing!" Bruce broke out in awe, "But, why so paranoid about SHIELD? Other than trying to hide research, which by the why Tony does regularly."

"Remember the Lizard?" Peter asked quietly, suddenly subdued, and the room went quiet as dawning horror broke over them. "Yeah, I helped make him, and what's worse was who exactly was under all those scales."

"Connors." Tony spoke firmly. "Stark Industries and Oscorp actually pitched in together for once and kept his name out of the papers, but it was a big enough thing around here even I knew who the Lizard really was and that's when Obadiah was still in charge. Kept it to myself of course, a gift from one scientist to another, because let's just say we've all had that one experiment that goes bad on us. Though I have to be honest with you SHIELD doesn't know about you helping to make him, but they know the Lizard was Connors, they are the one who has custody of him. There isn't another prison system in the world that could handle that."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that, I'm almost glad he is alive because I did work with him and respected him, but at the same time he killed Gwen's father and I still have the scars he gave me." Peter admitted.

"Try not to dwell too long on the bad and focus on the good parts of knowing people, that's the best way of handling things, stewing over information for too long is just going to make it hurt more." Bruce warned, he had the best reason of them all to keep his emotions under control.

"I understand, I think." Peter at least attempted to assure, before starting to muse wistfully while munching on a chocolate chip cookie like a squirrel. "I think I'm most upset because Dr. Connors didn't at least warn me he was going to try the serum. It wasn't finished, not even close. He was forced into human trials when we'd barely begun animal testing really. No one in their right mind would volunteer for that, so he used himself. In a way, he was being a hero, because he wouldn't let someone else suffer if we were wrong. Only, the formula, it messed with his head. It turned him psychotic. He was not like that before and I don't know how to fix it, but I think I want to try, someday when I'm more confident in my abilities so I don't end up just making him worse. If he is being safely held wherever he is at he should stay there until I am completely sure I know what I'm doing. I won't risk other people for the sake of my pride, I wouldn't be able to face my dad or Uncle Ben if I did that."

Sensing a much longer story there, Bruce left it for another time. "You are already very advanced in the physical sciences, not hard to tell, but how much have you worked with psychology?"

"Not as much as I want to," Peter grumbled, glaring at the brownie he'd snagged like it had betrayed him. "My school focuses on the hard sciences so I am teaching myself psychology. I don't exactly have a whole lot of downtime between homework and my patrols; it's been slow going."

"There's a branch of it you should look up called behavioral neuroscience, I think you will find it useful, it combines looking at the physical brain with understanding cognitive processes. If any facet of psychology will open doors to the answers you are looking for I am willing to bet it's that one." Bruce advised.

"Something tells me that's going to take a long time." Peter stated, but looked more excited at the prospect of a challenge than daunted at the thought of too much work.

"Yes, but worth it; though you might want to brush up on your anatomy before you get started." Only fair to warn the kid.

Peter's little grin threw them all off. "That was one class I managed to beat Gwen in, we've been competing for the top spot in the school since the bite. She knows about Spider-Man and won't let me slack off for a moment no matter that she is surprisingly supportive most of the time. Grades though, she's a slave driver."

"Two questions, who is Gwen, and which school?" Tony was smirking again, at the additional mention of a girl's name after hearing it a few times previously. Sweet, sweet, teasing would be coming from this, he just knew it.

A red blush creeping up Peter's neck gave away the first answer before the stuttered response, "Gwen would be my girlfriend, and we both go to Midtown Science; she is a senior I'm a junior."

"You are competing for the top spot with a person in the grade above you?" Pepper asked curiously while Tony was trying to wheedle a picture out of Peter, who did eventually cave because he had already revealed so much to these people. Also, come on, they were the freaking Avengers; if Gwen was not safe with them then who was she safe with?

He passed his cell phone around grudgingly, his background a picture of Gwen smiling softly while reading her favorite book; a photo he wasn't completely sure she knew he took even now. He loved cameo shots of her the most, when it was just her pretty softness and gentle kindness; not trying to impress or command. Just pure Gwen, and she was perfect. He answered Pepper after the CEO of Stark Industries made a small sound in the back of her throat, Tony would later be tempted to call it a squeal if he didn't fear for sensitive bits of his anatomy, and whisper, "You two would be so adorable!"

"Midtown's classes aren't all separated by grade level, they go be prerequisites or experience if you can test into them. I take a lot of classes with people in other grades, by the time you've been there two or three years it's easy to get mixed up and not be sure who is in what grade." Peter explained. "Once you finish your core classes all you need to graduate is a certain number of credits, but it doesn't really matter which credits, in that way it works a lot like college."

"I like those schools," Tony approved, "They started making more freeform high-schools like that when people like Bruce and I broke the molds. I think they've finally learned their lesson about forcing kids to fit the molds, instead they're changing the molds. I wish more were like that, but hey we can't have everything we want."

"Aunt May and Uncle Ben knew sending me to regular school would kill any bit of motivation I had left, this was the best alternative we could come up with and I'm glad we did it." Peter agreed.

What had turned into a comfortable conversation was interrupted by JARVIS's polite tone, "Sir, Agent Barton is on the phone for you."

"Sure, put Legolas on." Tony allowed, turning to Peter and putting a finger to his lips to signal the teen to keep quiet, which Peter responded with an eye-roll and sweeping his hand across his mouth 'zipping' it closed. Like he needed to be told to keep his mouth shut when there was a freaking agent on the phone.

"Stark, let me in your fucking elevator! It's too late for this shit." Clint's voice was tired, ragged, and pissed.

"Oops, did I forget to give you clearance?" Tony teased, while noticing Peter sliding his mask back over his face down to the bridge of his nose so he could keep stuffing himself with pastries. "JARVIS might as well let birdy boy come up to roost."

The line went silent as the AI moved to obey the command and the archer hung up, Tony looked at Peter and lifted and eyebrow, "Well Spidey, ready to meet our dear sweet Hawkeye?"


	4. Sacrifice

I See Red

Shadow of an Echo

Chapter Four

Sacrifice

Clint Barton looked like death warmed over, and he felt it too as he dragged himself out of the elevator and over to the kitchen before plopping onto a barstool at the island the others were still eating at.

He'd practically inhaled three cookies, several brownies, and some fancy pastry filled with nuts and dusted with cinnamon sugar wrapped up in layers of flaky dough before he even looked up at the other occupants. He trusted his well-honed instincts to warn him if he needed to make a quick dodge or escape, plus it helped Bruce was in the room, everyone treaded a little lighter when the potential for a Hulk-Out was just a few feet away. Made Clint a tad less paranoid as he stuffed himself with enough sugar to regain some sense of coherency before engaging in conversation.

"Rough day Katniss?" Tony prodded at the same time a mug of herbal tea with a shot of brandy appeared at the exhausted archer's elbow, courtesy of either Bruce or Pepper, Clint wasn't sure but he was not looking a gift horse in the mouth as he downed the beverage in two swift gulps. He didn't drink coffee, wouldn't risk the shakes the caffeine might give him, and was grateful the quirk had been picked up on in the short time after the invasion. That, or Natasha had told on him, which was a possibility.

"Rescue efforts have officially been switched to recovery on all fronts," Clint's first words were a simple statement that hit home with all of them, sitting heavy on their consciousness.

Bruce responded first, "Any recent estimates released on amount of loss?" He kept the question vague, not quite brave enough to come right out with it.

"Too many," Clint answered right away, "But nothing exact in terms of numbers, there is still a lot of rubble to go through. They've called in National Guard units from all over New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland; plus SHIELD is throwing manpower at it, but it is going to take time. Steve and Nat are still helping to coordinate everyone, but Nat shouldn't be far behind me. Don't think Cap will come in until he's ready to drop."

Natasha, Clint, and Steve had been helping with rescue and recovery ever since the invasion, with only short stop offs at the tower to get their feet back under themselves before they were back out on the streets doing it all over again. Tony and Bruce were more useful in the labs where they could study the tech taken from the Chitauri and give some hope to those people injured by the bizarre weapons. Though Tony did a little moonlighting as Iron Man when tests were running that would take time and he would have otherwise just been sitting around.

With the important bits of info reported and regaining a bit of feeling in his limbs, Clint was actually able to spare a little attention for the unfamiliar face in the kitchen. "Pick up another stray Stark?"

When there were twin exclamations of protest, near perfectly synchronized, from Tony and Peter it made Clint raise an eyebrow and look to Pepper and Bruce for an explanation. "This one isn't a result of Tony's little habit. Fury brought Spider-Man to us, he needs a place to stay and this was the best option." Bruce informed, making Clint nod and take in the newcomer with a bit more interest if he was gaining personal attention from the Director.

If Clint was going to question Peter at all though he didn't get the chance, because they were interrupted by one very grumpy Iron Man, "And just what is that supposed to mean?" He questioned suspiciously, eyes narrowed at the lot of them.

"Ah, Tony, you've been collecting people here like you used to collect robots in Malibu," Pepper pointed out, figuring he might not fight them as hard if it came from her. "It's only been a few days and already you have invited all the Avengers to live here, and they've accepted. Not a bad thing, really it's not, we can use the company, but this is the most contact you've voluntarily had with people I have ever seen you have." There was one common denominator among all the people Tony had invited, only one, and she wanted him to see it for himself. Clint and Bruce obviously already had, but Tony was either too stubborn to acknowledge it or too asocial to realize he'd done it at all.

"Where else were they going to stay?" Tony seemed offended they were even having this conversation. "SHIELD? Kolkata? A random barracks somewhere? No thank you, they are staying right here where they don't have to act in a damn dog and pony show if they don't want to. They've earned a home." More than simple skill made an Avenger who they were, it was experiencing loss and redemption, fear and anger, and not always knowing if they were the good guy or the bad guy. To avenge something, it had to have been lost first.

"See? Picking up strays." Clint was the only one still able to speak after that outburst, either because emotion had silenced them in the case of Bruce and Pepper or in Peter's case he just didn't know what to say in this situation. He was good with a quick quip in a fight but this was very different.

Tony remained stubbornly silent following that, letting Clint return his attention to Peter, "So you're Spider-Man? Nice work out there. Kept an eye on you between missions, looked like you were having fun with the gig; at least some of the time." He commented lightly.

Peter had the grace to look bashful even if his mask did cover most of the expression, "Well, have to admit, some of them make it way too easy. I mean really, if you are going to go out and steal a car or rob a bank, why in the heck would you dress like a thief?"

"You know kid, some people don't have a whole lot of choice in wardrobe," Clint pointed out, reaching for another of the dwindling supply of cookies. Caffeine he avoided, but he had a near insane sweet tooth developed from his years as a carnie.

"I know that," The teen assured, "I didn't mean it that way. There is a difference between dressing in cheap clothes, or something bought second hand, and what I run into those thugs wearing all the time. It is not necessity; it is a choice. I know that by the way they look, they're always clean, and groomed, not to mention they hardly ever look underfed. I know what desperation looks like, and if I see it I have a tendency to go a bit easier on those cases. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm trying." He would spend every day working to make sure he never made the kind of mistake that lead to Uncle Ben's death ever again. Not overlooking or underestimating something so inherent in the people around him was one of the first lessons the city had to teach him, only reinforcing the things he learned from Uncle Ben and Aunt May.

"Good." Clint stated firmly. "It's too easy to fall into the trap of forgetting where some of the petty criminals are coming from. To write all of them off as crooks without redeeming value is just as wrong as letting them all walk free. It's figuring out where the line is that's the hard part of the job, gotta say, you haven't done bad for a kid."

"Is everyone going to keep bringing that up?" Peter question rhetorically with a morose tone, "I'm not a kid."

"Uh huh," The archer looked distinctly unimpressed, "For some reason I highly doubt it. Ten bucks says you're still in high school. I'll even take it a step further and say that you are right around seventeen give or take a few months."

"Alright just how in the hell could you know something like that?!" Peter burst out incredulously at Clint's dead on assessment.

"Dude they call me Hawkeye for a reason, it's kind of my job to assess people." Clint pointed out like Peter was an idiot. He was a trained spy and assassin who could pick a single mark out of hundreds of faces and take them down without a sound, being able to tell someone's age when they were still in the developmental stage of growth was child's play. "I told you I've been keeping an eye on you between missions. You've been in the news for about two years, between the length of time since then and how much you've grown it was an easy call. Not to mention the hours you keep are far too regular for someone who doesn't have a job or go to school, and did I not just say I noticed you growing? Boys usually grow like weeds in our mid to late teens, and slow down once we near twenty."

Seeing no point in arguing that particular point, since Clint was right and he knew it, Peter tried a different tactic. "So what does it matter? I fight just like the rest of you do, stop calling me kid!" He was getting real tired of being looked down on.

Of all things a broad grin stretched across Clint's face and he broke out in a rash of tired but no less honest laughter, "Nah, it suits you, plus it's Tony that usually nicknames everyone -trust me- it could be much, much worse."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it!" Peter protested.

"Nobody likes it at first," Bruce quipped, "You get used to it though, and for some reason you'll start missing it when it's not there." A bunch of scientists picking on each other late into the night was something he missed from working in his father's lab, that at least was a good thing about those days in his mind, and when the Other Guy came and took it all away he was afraid he would never get that back.

Then Tony rocketed into his life with fearless abandon and pointy sticks. So with reservation he accepted the offer of a room and a lab, so far he hadn't regretted a thing.

"Kid, if we didn't like you we wouldn't bother with a nickname," Clint added, snatching the last brownie for himself.

That had Peter raising an eyebrow they couldn't see, "But didn't he nickname Loki?" He jerked his hand towards Tony to punctuate the question.

All four adults in the room tensed up, Clint and Tony especially had shadowed expressions on their faces while Bruce and Pepper just looked sad. It was Tony that answered for himself though, "I don't actually hate Loki. I can't condemn what he did, none of the Avengers can, not outright anyway. We can fight him and stop him; which we did, but we can't condemn him."

"Speak for yourself," Clint grumbled at that but otherwise let Tony keep talking when he realized Iron Man had this covered.

Peter suppressed his immediate response, wanting to lash out against the Asgardian who brought the Chitauri, almost killing his aunt and destroying his city. He controlled his rage, breathing deep and even, forcing a single word through clenched teeth, "Why?"

"Do you know what my name used to be?" Tony asked bluntly. "Merchant of Death. We don't have death totals from Loki's invasion yet, but I know how many Stark Industries have killed. The amount of blood on my hands is astronomical. My company, my name, my bombs. It is no different than Loki being the head of that army. I rained down death and pain just like he did, and what's worse is I didn't even have the decency to be on the battlefield like he was. I hid behind booze and women. Now do you see why I can't hate Loki? He is no worse than who I used to be."

Bruce added on quietly when it seemed Tony was done with his part, "You saw what the Other Guy did. A lot of the property damage and some of the deaths were my fault. It was for the sake of stopping the Chitauri, but I still caused them, and need I mention what happened to Harlem not so long ago? The Other Guy does not save anything without destroying something. Loki is crazy, but we all have our demons."

Clint did not look up from his hands. "Well I do hate Loki." He stated firmly. "I don't think I will ever stop hating him, but I don't think it's for the reason people think I do. I have done horrible things. I am an assassin, and a good one, my kills number in the dozens and I was assigned to take out the Widow when I wasn't much older than you. That isn't something they would ask a healthy, well-adjusted citizen to do now is it? Only it has always been and should always be my choice. It is my hand that pulls back the bow and releases the arrow, no one else. Loki took that away, and that is why I hate him." By the end of the rant, and there was no other word for it that was a rant, Clint was practically growling with anger. He was a man who wouldn't drink a cup of coffee for fear of what it would do to his aim, and hear a Norse God of legend had come along and took every bit of free will away from him.

Pepper was the one to speak to Peter very softly, eyes tired but tone firm. "The kind of darkness the Avengers were brought together to fight can't be defeated by someone who has only known light. Every single one of them has been hurt, and has hurt others. It is part of who they are and it is why Fury trusts them more than he does his own organization. Loki's attack was their chance for redemption and instead of running away they all decided to stand and fight, despite knowing they might just be called monsters right along with him. You should be familiar with the feeling yourself if on a slightly smaller scale."

"Yeah, yeah I am," Peter admitted, effectively cowed as he dropped his shoulders in submission and starred at his gloved hands. His own alter ego was hailed as a criminal more often than not in the media. He kept doing what he thought was right though, he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he squandered his gift after what happened to Uncle Ben. "You must think I'm some kind of moron." He muttered self-deprecatingly.

"If you weren't worth teaching we wouldn't bother," Tony explained with a shrug, "I hardly have the patience to teach anyone let alone an idiot. Just don't make us repeat ourselves and you're good, plus it isn't like you've asked any particularly bad questions."

"They're good questions, just some of the answers aren't the easiest for us to handle." Bruce added on. "Curiosity isn't something we punish around here."

Another voice broke into the discussion abruptly, "Knowledge is power."

Clint was the only one who didn't startle at the unexpected entrance, "Welcome back Nat." He greeted calmly.

Tony swore under his breath, before demanding, "How in the hell did you know she was there Merida? She's quieter than a freakin cat wearing booties."

Clint snorted with laughter, pointing out the stainless steel appliances in the professional caliber kitchen. "We might as well be surrounded by mirrors. Stop relying on your ears so much."

That comment got him glared at, by both Tony AND Bruce. "Oh, don't think we are just going to let that one go buddy ol' pal. Did you think it may not be a good idea to I don't know maybe warn somebody that your ears were shit?" Tony wasn't exactly known for his tact.

"I knew," Natasha spoke up calmly, installing herself in the kitchen with the group without making a fuss. She had to have been just as tired if not more so than Clint but she was doing a better job of hiding it.

"And you didn't share with the class?" Tony accused, "Damn it privacy is important we get that, but so is keeping your hides in piece. How were we supposed to know Clint needs a special Comm unit? If his had broken in the battle he couldn't just pick one up off someone else and keep going like the rest of us. Or the fact that he knows ASL, Braille, and Morse code? Which by the way both Brucie and I do too. If we ever needed to pass a message silently those are good ways of doing it that throw people off. Ever think that may have been a way around Loki's mindfuck? That Allspeak thing of Thor's might not work on silent communication but Clint should still know it, would have been worth a try anyway."

"You hacked SHIELD again," Natasha stated, because there was nowhere else Tony could have learned all that.

"Yes," Tony admitted without shame or hesitancy. "And I still invited you here to live. I needed to know who you were, or as much of what I could dig up. Interesting files there Romanov, especially your handler."

Peter was nearly bursting with the urge to break in with a comment during their verbal spar, especially that last part. It must have shown in his body language because Clint filled him in without prompting. "All SHIELD special operatives have a handler, or a very high level Agent that has control of us both on and off missions. Considering how dangerous special operatives can be -For example both Natasha and I are in SHIELD Special Ops- I'll leave you to imagine how tough the handlers are."

He couldn't help himself, he really couldn't. "So who is her handler?"

Tony smirked, "Why don't you tell him? Come on it would just be from one arachnid to another."

Her eyes narrowed at the teasing billionaire, "You and I both know that information is highly classified. Who our handlers are is kept thoroughly hidden so it can't be used either against us, or against them. They are the only ones in the world who know where we are at all times, without exception. You don't think that might prove to be a bit tempting to people who want a bit of revenge for past dealings with us?" Natasha pointed out. Tony should be more than aware what torture, or even just the threat of torture could do to a person, and he wanted to put someone in that position for the sake of a little fun?

"If it was anyone else, you know I wouldn't have brought it up." Tony responded with a shrug. "I didn't hack the surface files, I dug deeper, so I know about the decoy. Nice try and it will probably work on anyone who doesn't have JARVIS backing them up, but it just so happens that I do."

It was only when Clint added on, "You know, he kind of has a point Nat." That she caved.

"Alright, you know what, fine." It might be from sheer exhaustion, but they had worn her down to the point she was going through with this against her better judgement. "My handler is a bit more complicated than others because I was brought into SHIELD as a potential threat. I was not trusted with a general handler, but at the same time it would not have gone over well with the World Security Council had it looked like I was given preferential treatment. I made a deal with SHIELD. On all official documentation my handler is the same as Clint's, since he is the Operative who discovered me it would normally be his handler who took over my case so nothing out of the ordinary there. Only it is all a front to hide the fact my actual handler is Fury himself. There is a handful of other operatives like me under his direct control, but all of us are funneled through different handlers to make it look like we are just like any of the others. Steve is one of them."

"How many people know about these operatives, I mean do the decoy handlers even know they are being used as a cover?" Peter thought that was a somewhat intelligent question considering just how much had just been thrown at him.

"There are only two fake handlers, and yes they know, they have to." Natasha admitted. "They are Fury's right and left hand, he trusts them to take care of us if he can't get to us in time.

Tony started bouncing up and down on his stool waving his hand in the air, chanting, "Ooh, ooh, pick me, I know!"

"Of course you know Stark, you just told us you hacked SHIELD." Natasha rebuked.

Bruce's voice broke over Tony's crestfallen expression, "Actually, it's not hard to guess from what you've said. I don't think you're really trying to hide it at this point, are you?" He realized.

She sighed, "No, not really."

"Coulson and Hill." Bruce named after more or less getting permission, receiving a nod in confirmation.


	5. Wildfire

I See Red

Shadow of an Echo

A/N Just wanted to say I have seen Civil War and absolutely loved it, and while some characters and events will eventually show up in this story there will be NO SPOILERS until a reasonable amount of time has passed for people to see it. On that note the Deadpool movie that came out in February is now fair game. As for the Gambit movie they are slowly planning, I have to see it before I can decide whether to incorporate any of the storyline because I am VERY picky when it comes to my favorite mutant.

I would also like to give an additional story warning starting from this chapter. The characters are going to openly discuss and deal with the fallout from terrorist attacks and natural disasters, including real world events. To put my memories in context I'm a 27 year old college student in the U.S.A. and I remember watching live news coverage of the September 11th attacks clearly, so those and any momentous occasions after them may make it into this story to give the characters more depth and background. If you are sensitive at all towards these topics I recommend giving this story a skip and I apologize for any disturbance.

Chapter Five

Wildfire

With two assassins nearly falling asleep at the counter and Bruce and Tony visibly twitching with the need to return to the lab; Peter found himself at a loss about what to do next. After sleeping a day away he was nowhere near ready for more rest.

"Can I start helping in the lab yet?" He asked hopefully. Not only would that be completely awesome, it would give him something to do.

A quick but telling glance passed between Hulk and Ironman, but Bruce was the first to reply, "Not yet, the lab isn't ready for three people. Too many pieces of sensitive tech laying around that might get bumped or knocked over. This is rare stuff we couldn't get replacements for even if we did swallow our pride and go begging SHIELD, so we can't risk it."

Peter slumped down in disappointment, but the answer wasn't unexpected, "Alright, I understand. Anything else I can do while everyone else is busy? I hate sitting still."

Natasha was the one to answer him, voice still strong no matter how exhausted she had to have been by that point. "You should go find Steve if you have that much energy. He'll put you through your paces."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Peter agreed. "Any idea where I might find him? Manhattan is a big place, especially when it is full of rubble." He pointed out when he realized it wouldn't be particularly simple to spot the first Avenger in the flurry of rescue workers.

Clint snorted with laughter, "That's easy, look for the most unstable building that you can't believe is still standing, and look under it. You'll find him. He is the most reckless man I have ever met."

Natasha's very quiet. "Pot meet kettle," Made Pepper smile as she had her own hero with a serious lack of self-preservation on her hands. He also paid for it dearly in routine nightmares and survival off so much caffeine he was probably contemplating finding a way to deliver it intravenously at this point.

Truthfully though about the only Avenger that actively avoided a fight was Bruce and that was just because he hated seeing the fallout from the Other Guy. Too many chances for innocents to get caught in the crossfire. The others were all dangerous in their own right -especially if they had their chosen weapons on them- but he was essentially a nuke without a target, nothing and no one guided him but the barest hint of sanity that held on by a thread thinner than the spider-silk Peter produced from his webshooters.

Bruce couldn't stop the rage, all he could do was unleash it and point in the direction of the bad guys while desperately hoping there was enough human left in him to keep those precious innocents safe.

Peter then realized his thoughts were careening off track, "As helpful as I'm sure you think that was, well, I just have to look out the window to see all the partially toppled buildings. So, um, little more help here would be useful?" He tried again to get the tired archer to focus wondering if it was because of the long day or if it was just Clint's personality that brought on the banter.

Natasha once again provided the answer he actually needed, having had the last contact with him out of the group, "He was getting ready to direct the Pennsylvania Guard units last I saw him, they sent their convoy to meet him in front of the Oscorp building to make it easy to find with GPS. That was a couple hours ago though so he might have finished giving the Commanding Officers their orders."

That made Clint perk up a little bit and raise an eyebrow, "I thought the PA guys were already here?"

"Those were the ones based out of the Eastern side, like from Philadelphia and Harrisburg." She explained, "These ones are from the Western side, such as Pittsburgh and Erie. Pennsylvania is a big state, and it has one of the highest concentrations of National Guard troops, we didn't expand the call for help to the rest of the state until we knew they would be needed instead of just in the way. Too many people underfoot causing confusion is just as bad in these situations as not having enough aid. They split up the Guard units from Ohio and New England too just to be safe."

Bruce spoke up as Natasha finished, filling in an important blank for Peter because Clint would already know this, or at least he should. "Also it is a bad idea to pull every single Guard unit from a region even under these conditions… no better to say especially under these conditions. This situation would be an opportune time for a secondary attack from either outside forces or homegrown terrorists. Anyone with a grudge against America is bound to notice we are a tad distracted right now. If we didn't get the country on lockdown, and fast, in trying to fix New York we very well might sacrifice DC, Boston, or any of the other big regions we need for technology or military support; something to that effect anyway."

"That's why even as we speak, units from other parts of the country are being called up to cover the empty slots this is leaving, and we are working to form a rotating roster of aid workers so that no particular group gets overly stressed; at least that is the goal we are striving for. So far the Military is treating this like what happened in 2005 when Hurricane Katerina hit New Orleans head on and took out much of the territory around it, i.e. chalking it up to a natural disaster and going on defensive mode instead of offensive. At least we do have some precedent for a large Metropolis getting wiped out in less than 24 hours." Natasha explained as information was her specialty, and she thrived on knowing who was where and when. Steve's exact location was impossible to call since he wasn't stationary and she was no longer in the field, but troop movements and the big picture, she had that memorized the moment Steve laid it out for everyone before he'd even showered the blood and grime out of his blond hair.

The adults got quiet, before Bruce broke the silence with what they were all thinking, "With it being in New York, I thought they would treat this like when the towers fell." He admitted softly. That was also a day of smoke, and fire, and confusion; the orders to switch from rescue to recovery hard to hear for anyone involved in the hectic time that followed.

"There was an enemy at the end of that day, something concrete to fight when the dust settled." Clint had his elbows resting on the island, hands kneading into his neck; muscles sore from all the strain he'd put himself under in the last few days. "Whether you agreed with the need to go to war or not, the terrorists that day were all too human. It reminded the general population that our species has an underbelly, something dark and nasty that most of the country was only too happy to see pushed back into the shadows. Truth really wasn't what people were after, in the grand scheme of things it never really is. All they wanted was that glimpse of humanity's dark side to just go away in the fastest way possible, and there you have the recipe for most of the wars simmering in just about every part of the world. In trying to destroy the dark we just breed more of it, and for the record it isn't just America with a hair trigger, but we do have some of the deepest pocketbooks when it comes to the military and are known for being well, reckless, is probably the best word for it."

"So when Loki brought in some kind of hive army from outer freaking space, and they all snuffed it from a nuke blast to their queen, we took the chance to fight back away from everyone." Tony realized, analyzing the situation easily.

"Exactly," Natasha again, her words showing she was following Clint's train of thought so smoothly Tony could have sworn they were psychic sometimes. "If they ran the clean up like this was the terrorist attack it so clearly was they'd be left hanging at the end, all of them itching for a fight but with nothing to shoot at, and all you need to do is look at our dear Captain America to know what it means to be a geared up soldier without a target."

"How long has it been since he slept?" Pepper asked in concern before anyone else could.

Natasha's mouth was set in a grim line, "As far as I know he hasn't since the invasion. Thor was able to knock enough sense into him he took a break long enough to eat something and get his wounds cleaned out three days ago, but Cap was right back out there again when Thor had to take Loki back to Asgard."

"Alright Spidey change of plans, now you are going to go fetch yourself a super soldier and make him finish up whatever undoubtedly dangerous task he is in the middle of, then you are going to bring Cap back here and put _him_ through _his_ paces; preferably until he passes out." Tony ordered, saluting Peter with his coffee mug, something no one besides Pepper had seen him retrieve but Ironman was a master at fortifying himself with liquid energy before a long stint in the lab with Bruce.

"Wait, what!?" Peter exclaimed sharply, that particular order coming out of left field. Working with Captain America was an honor in his mind, but what Tony had just suggested sounded an awful lot like kidnapping to him. Well, and there was one other thing. "You really expect me to keep up with a strung out Captain America, and _not_ die? _"_

"You see any other arachnid themed superheroes around here that wouldn't get me killed saying that to? Weird Asgardian alien-gods with daddy issues are one thing but I am not nearly suicidal enough to tell Black Widow what to do." Tony insisted with a raised eyebrow as the beautiful assassin didn't even bother to dignify the comment with a change in expression. "I do know you at least have the speed and flexibility to outmaneuver Cap even if I don't quite have a read on your full strength yet. All we usually see you doing is webbing up a car thief or bank robber and that is a poor measure to say the least, but I can guess you're packing more than you typically show if you're willing to swing from the top of skyscrapers at the end of that itty bitty string. The compound for your webbing is a great show of chemistry, but physics doesn't just stop when you're dangling off the end of one; I know that much." Tony insisted, crossing his arms in front of himself and giving Peter a pointed stare.

"Clearly I am missing something here; why would that let him go against Captain America?" Pepper inquired curiously, looking back and forth from the genius engineer to the masked teen.

The answer to her question didn't come from either of the scientists in the room, or the boy himself, although she would have put money on Bruce answering since he had the physics background. Surprisingly it was Clint that spoke up, his history with the circus and its high flying acts letting him speak from experience, "This kid has to be fucking strong just to catch himself because it isn't the webs doing the work, it's his arms, all the webs do is give him something to grab on to just like a trapeze bar or a gymnast ring. Only the distance he is falling is much further than in any act I have ever seen. Then he uses his wrists and arms to brace himself against the force of gravity to prevent his body from being nothing but dead weight or he'll quite literally rip his shoulder out of the socket at the very least. He is essentially doing a pull up while dangling off a roller coaster without any restraints. Every. Single. Time. He. Swings. He's doing this one handed mind you, at least at some points in his swing, just so he can shoot out the next web with the other wrist. Also, and this is only if I'm right in guessing that web works more like a bungie cord than a solid rope, it has a spring to it, that means he has to keep the rest of his torso positioned right –without the help of any kind of harness- or the recoil will snap his neck on the upswing. If it was me up there I would keep my shoulders, back, and core tensed to stabilize my spine along with keeping a countering force against the inertia of the swing with my arms. Even then, all of that barely even touches on what he has to do to swing laterally to get around corners. Turning himself essentially into a human slingshot has to exponentially increase the force he puts on his body." With that Clint trailed off, everyone looking at Peter with wide-eyed awe tinged with respect, even those that already knew academically what he was doing. It was one thing to know the science and another entirely to have it all laid out in plain English exactly what that meant on a body. Olympic gymnasts and performers on the caliber of shows like Cirque Du Soleil would know the same details Clint just rattled off, but the sheer scale Peter had accomplished was mind blowing, he didn't just drop from three or four stories up, it was more like thirty. Once again Peter was glad for the mask because he was blushing under it.

Tony unknowingly spared Peter from his embarrassment though when he finished up the explanation, though really the archer had been very thorough so there wasn't much to add, "The higher and longer the fall, and the heavier the object, the more force Spidey here needs to counteract. He is fighting against far more than just his own body weight when he swings his way around the city, and he makes it look not just easy but truly graceful. Truth be told, that is the real reason I think he has a shot against Cap. I wouldn't put him up to it if I didn't think it would be a fair fight."

"Sounds like the perfect person to bring him in then," Pepper realized, pulling herself together quickly. After working with Tony for so many years, it took a lot more than that to derail her for too long. Plus, she had been more or less surrounded by superheroes ever since Tony declared himself Ironman, it had been exhausting, and while yes she was having a little trouble believing the slender teen was a match for the fabled soldier; she had learned long ago that underestimating anyone was a very bad idea. After all, Tony himself was rather vertically challenged but was capable of bringing whole regimes of angry men to their knees with just himself, a suit, and JARVIS.

Realizing it was long past time to leave, Peter pulled himself up audibly grumbling, "If this ends badly, I blame you," As he headed towards the elevator still muttering about how long it was going to take to track down the restless soldier. With Natasha's aid he knew where to start but with his luck he knew there was little chance Steve would still be there. Oh well, it was time he was back out and helping people again, even if this was one of the most bemusing assignments he had ever been given.

It was only when the elevator doors closed that Tony looked to Clint, "Do you think he's going to realize we could have just given him a Comm unit to find Cap?"

"Depends, we making this interesting?" Clint asked hopefully, always up for a bet when it involved a freaking billionaire.

"Of course, twenty bucks says he figures it out before he finds Cap and comes back to get one all huffy about it." Tony offered.

"Alright, then I wager he won't figure it out on his own, only realizing it when Cap radios in to confirm we sent Peter to him. Of course if that does happen we will get a very patriotic lecture about why it is bad to haze the newbies when Steve figures out we knowingly sent him out there without one." Clint decided after a moment of thought.

"My money's on both of you being wrong, kid's smart enough to track him down without help if he has a good starting point and Cap is more than willing to put people in their places if he has a reason to, wouldn't surprise me at all if the two of them teamed up to teach you a lesson." Natasha added calmly, making the two previously preening males first gape, and then blanch when they realized she had a point.

"Tony, we should get down to the lab now so that when Steve calls in someone is there to answer. You know Clint's right, Steve is going to check and make sure we really did send Peter." Bruce broke into the betting pool. He wasn't willing to stake a claim of his own, although that was mainly because he agreed with Natasha and he didn't want to seem like he was taking her idea after she had already said it; that wasn't very sporting. He felt a little bad about not warning Peter himself, but well, he trusted in the young man's strength and knew there were enough pairs of eyes reliably connected to each other on look out right now that would be able to raise an alarm in time if something did go wrong, both Peter and New York itself wouldn't come to any harm from their little game.

As the small group in the tower broke up to either head to bed or get to the lab, Peter was making solid progress through the ruins of the city; at least he knew where he was going no matter how the landscape had changed or that he was starting from Avengers tower instead of his own home in Queens. The Oscorp building would forever be seared into his memory, and for once that was only minorly related to Gwen. He had been looking for information on his father when he went there the first time, it was sheer coincidence she was there, and the rest as they say was history.

Peter felt his stomach drop when he didn't see the iconic soldier anywhere around the familiar area. Just because he was expecting Steve to have moved on by now didn't mean he hadn't harbored the tiniest bit of hope that just maybe fate would take a day off on using him as what felt like her favorite chew toy.

It had actually only taken him until he was about twenty yards outside of the tower before it hit him he could have asked for a Comm unit. Then he realized if no one had brought it up in the kitchen this was either a joke or a test and he wasn't about to head back inside with his tail between his legs so fast. Now that Peter knew Natasha's lead was a dead-end he simply continued on his what promised to be long and dusty search for a star spangled needle in the rubble filled haystack called Manhattan.

He followed his senses to the shakiest buildings and highest concentrations of aid workers. Low and behold, no matter how much the other Avengers sounded like they were teasing, they had flat out called this one. Steve was there, he was kind of hard to miss and it didn't take long for Peter to realize two very important details about his target; one, Captain America drew a lot of attention and was therefore easy to spot in a crowd especially since Peter could survey from above; two, Captain America drew a lot of attention and that created a human shield making him damn dear impossible to get to no matter what angle you could swing in at.

Of course there was a plus side to tailing an apparently adrenaline junky of a super soldier, there were some buildings even the bravest of soldiers and rescue workers were forced to obey orders to stand down and watch the broad back rush in alone to clear the floors. Peter had his webs, reflexes, a healing factor, and his own love of a nice cocktail of dear old dopamine, serotonin, and adrenaline thus he followed after the retreating blue uniform into the unstable building; ready to pull both himself and the distracted hero in front of him out of danger if the floor or ceiling showed signs of caving in.

Either he was too loud, the Captain wasn't as distracted as he thought, or Steve had better hearing than Peter did; any of which was a possibility, but the end result was Steve noticing he was being followed before they'd gotten to the end of the first hallway. "You'd better come out now, this is no time or place to play around." His voice was strong and authoritative, and Peter's body was obeying before he'd really thought about it. Steve took in the suit with widened eyes and a slightly shocked tone, "Well you're new. Don't think I've seen you before. Did you come to the city to help with disaster relief?"

Peter felt his lips quirking up in a smirk at the poor guy's confusion, he just couldn't help it, "I'm Spider-Man and I'm not new, I try to stay out of the big news casts, you have to pick up a city paper to read about me; I'm a born and raised New Yorker."

"Oh, right, now that I think about it I remember reading about you when I came out of the ice." Steve admitted slowly, fitting his memories together. "They started me with local news and spread out to wider regions, but there was just so much to handle; it was hard to remember it all."

"Hey I don't blame you," Peter was quick to assure. Getting hit over the head with seventy years of backlogged history, even with a serum enhanced memory, had to be a monumental task. He might be able to store the information but being able to get it into any kind of useful form had to be a long and exhausting battle, storage without the ability to recall any of it meant those memories were worthless basically.

Steve's smile in response was small but grateful, and in that moment Peter wondered just how old Captain America was without all the years in the ice; but he wasn't about to ask. It didn't much matter though, because the soldier decided to change the subject a bit, "Were you following me specifically, or just trying to help where you can?" He asked attempting to get back on track; they were in the middle of a crumbling building for a reason after all.

"I was sent by Iron Man, he wants me to help you finish up whatever you're in the middle of and then have me bring you back to the tower with me." Peter admitted.

Steve took a deep breath, "Tony put you up to that huh?"

"Yep," Peter responded simply.

Right hand went to comb through grimy blonde hair, while left hand massaged a dirty neck, Steve giving himself time to think. "God I want to. Every time I slow down though my pulse starts racing and I keep thinking of a million and one things I should be doing. It feels like there is fire in my blood and it won't go out. I haven't felt this way since World War Two."

Peter chose his next words very carefully, not sure exactly how much of the last sentence he was meant to hear and how much Steve hadn't realized he'd said out loud. "The others seem to think it might help you to fight it out. Tony wants me to do that for you when we get back to the tower."

"What!? He wants you to fight me?!" Okay the sheer amount of surprise hurt Peter's pride a little bit.

"Yes," Peter insisted firmly, "I'm fast, and a lot stronger than I look. He thinks I can hold up anyway, and by the sounds of it you are kind of running out of options here, so what do you say we finish up here and go back and see if we can't get you calmed down? It'd just be the Queens kid against the Brooklyn boy."

Taking in the force of Peter's surety and the feeling of his own heart racing, Steve reaching for the communication device hooked in his ear, "JARVIS I have a young man here making some offers, I need confirmation of identity."

A quick conversation with Bruce later, Tony too deep in the latest test to respond, and Steve had all the proof he needed Peter was telling the truth as far as he knew it. "All right, then let's get this done and get out of here then."

"Fine, so what exactly are we doing here?" Seemed like an apt time to ask, considering Peter didn't have any clue even now after the delay he'd gotten in actually talking to the surprisingly approachable Captain America.

"This, and the other buildings that have sustained so much structural damage they are beyond salvage, are scheduled for controlled demolitions in the next few days. Basically we are going to knock them down before they fall down so we have more control over how and when they come down, but they need to be cleared and sealed off from people coming in before any kind of explosives can be placed. First sweeps have already been completed, for victims of the attacks, this sweep is for secondary intruders such as looters who may have come in after the first sweep left. We need to make well and sure the buildings are empty before they're brought down." Steve explained.

"Seems simple enough," Peter agreed after taking a moment to assimilate the new information, and then the two of them made quick work of the floors still in any shape to possibly hold a person.

Finally it was time to return to the tower, and see just how Spider-Man stacked up against Captain America.


	6. Live Like Legends

I See Red

Shadow of an Echo

Chapter Six

Live Like Legends

"Oh come on, give it up! You've got to tell us who won!" Clint begged yet again as Steve calmly withstood the barrage, sipping at his mug of coffee while keeping an eye on the bacon sizzling in a frying pan throwing off a tempting fragrance that had slowly drawn the other Avengers to the communal kitchen for breakfast. Well that, and probably a nudge or two from JARVIS considering the sheer size of the tower

Peter had been given the job of chopping vegetables to go in a huge cast iron skillet heating up in front of the frying pan, and when Hawkeye realized Cap was a dead end he turned to the teen instead. "Alright Kid, start talking."

Peter shook his head, mask covering his tiny smile, "Nope, not saying a word." He was calm and relaxed this morning, the only part of his Spider-Man suit in evidence was the mask; otherwise he was dressed like a typical teen in jeans and a hoodie, hands uncovered as he wielded the knife with a confidence born from long hours elbows deep in science projects requiring fine motor control. Peter would be the first to say he wasn't much of a cook, but this much at least he could do.

Clint huffed in irritation, "Really?! All that build up, and nothing? No, I won't let it go like that. You've got to give us something! How long you last? Five minutes? Ten? Did Cap make you see stars and stripes? That mask hiding the evidence, or what? Cause it doesn't look like he's got a scratch on him."

Peter glanced up to see Steve's broad shoulders shaking as he faced the stove, resolutely looking away from Clint so he didn't accidently meet the sniper's eyes. It was the only thing keeping Captain America from bursting out laughing, and Peter knew it.

Tony had been watching the trio with narrowed eyes, now even more suspicious as their recently defrosted national icon attempted to keep himself from devolving into guffaws. "I may have the solution to your frustration Legolas. JARVIS, you did what I asked, right?"

JARVIS's response was quick and sounded almost offended, "Of course Sir, as ordered the spar between Captain America and Spider-Man was recorded and saved on a private server, password protected, and will be automatically deleted once watched." In truth that one single video was more secure than anything kept in either the Pentagon or Vatican files. When Tony Stark made a promise to himself to keep Peter's identity safe from SHIELD he was going to follow through.

Since Tony had no idea what would be said or whether Peter's mask might come off in the fight, he refused to take any chance their curiosity would lead to exactly what Bruce had warned him against that first night of having information saved to JARVIS that could put the kid in danger.

As soon as arachnid and super-soldier heard the AI's response though, they both froze, the only sound coming from the snapping grease in the frying pan on the stove.

Peter found his voice first, "You recorded us?" He sounded both betrayed and intrigued.

Say what you will about Tony, he wasn't one to hedge, even about things that probably should be hedged such as certain red and gold vigilante projects during press conferences. "Yes." He stated bluntly, "Can you really blame me? I mean come on, we still need to get the pecking order straight around here."

By then Steve had mostly gained control of himself, but was once again thrown into a state of bemused curiosity by Tony, "Pecking order?"

"Oh, you know, who's strongest and whatnot," Tony shrugged off. "The internet's been buzzing about it so I figured it's our scientific duty to the world to answer the question for them."

Bruce, who'd so far been content to sit back and watch the show while peeling potatoes to hand off to Peter, rubbed his temples in an attempt to stave off the flaring headache the logistics of such a thing brought up. "Tony, that's a really, really, bad idea; on so many levels I don't even know where to start." The Other Guy in a strength contest? No thank you. Not to mention the trained freaking assassins on the team might cause a few issues in their own right.

As the billionaire took on a kicked puppy look at one of his ideas being shot down by his science buddy, Clint broke in again, "Well I know where to start, Cap and the Kid, so show us the tape already. This I gotta see!"

Natasha had been contemplating Tony like a lioness cornering prey, and now she interrupted before he could make any response to Clint at all. "Just what exactly are you using for parameters?" That purr in her voice? Yeah, that wasn't flirting and all of a sudden Tony was feeling oddly nervous for his sensitive bits; which he was suddenly fully aware was kind of all of him.

"Probably going to have to make more than one list," Tony conceded carefully, edging away from Natasha and towards the relative safety of Bruce. That should tell you something if Iron Man felt safer near the Hulk than Black Widow. "The first with who can straight-up win a spar and a second for who is the deadliest, Miss I can kill you with a smile and a paperclip."

Clint pipped up, "Well actually, that whole paperclip thing isn't really that hard if you know what you're doing." His comment got him stared at, and he just shrugged, "What? Managing to off someone with miscellaneous office supplies is like assassin 101. If you think the paperclip trick is impressive you should see what we can pull off with a ball point pen. Why worry about getting caught with a weapon if you can use just about anything handy? Even I can do some of it and I'm long range usually, Nat's short range so she's way better of course."

Peter was once again grateful for the mask, it hid his staring, which he was most definitely doing. Okay the mask probably wasn't covering up much, because he was gaping like a fish at Clint and Natasha.

"…And now you know why SHIELD Special Ops need handlers," Tony quipped, not missing Peter's shock. "Fury's got a couple tornados on leashes under his eyepatch."

"I think there is a lot left for me to learn," Peter managed to force out, face white as a sheet, luckily they couldn't see it but they could hear the strained tone in his voice.

Steve's voice was calming as he walked over, relieving Peter of the diced veggies, "This team's a little rough around the edges, but we brought it together alright when it counted. Reminds me of the Howlers, and if this is going to be anything like those days we could probably use a few tornados is all I got to say." He commented before throwing onion and bell pepper into the skillet with a little butter and garlic, the pleasing smell making a satisfied smile grow on his face. He had grown up the sickly child of a widowed Irish immigrant during the depression, the easy and near constant access to food the future afforded was a novelty and privilege he was enjoying with gusto. Learning to cook had been the one hobby he had picked up since coming out of the ice that was solely based off his own accord.

The way Steve cooked was with the needs of his team in mind, they were all working hard these days; clearing rubble, ordering troops, or working long hours in the labs. As much as a sweet breakfast of French toast or pancakes might sound good it just wouldn't be enough for them, not when at least half the team had enhanced metabolisms. They needed protein, and starch, lasting energy to get them through the day; so it was with that in mind that Steve cut up a few rings of smoked sausage into the pan with the veggies, then poured in scrambled eggs once he'd made sure the potatoes were crisped on the edges and softened in the middle; after that came liberally sprinkled cheese.

By that point Bruce and Tony were put on toast duty, getting butter and jelly on golden brown bread ready to go, as Peter helped pile the last of the bacon on a huge serving platter. Small portions just wouldn't cut it with this herd.

With breakfast finally done, everyone was pressed into service to carry the feast into the living room; it had the biggest screen and would give them the best vantage point to watch the show down between arachnid and national icon. They all piled up onto couches and recliners with their plates and waited for JARVIS to pull up the footage.

The team was able to see both Cap and Spider-Man sizing each other up while still covered in dust from the crumbled building they had met in, neither having bothered to change before hitting the sparring gym Tony had set up for the Avengers to work out their frustrations. For only having a few days' notice that he would be having extra occupants in the tower other than himself, Pepper, and the Bots the billionaire didn't think he'd done too bad a job fixing up a place for them to let loose. Having a useful Hulk and bored Norse god stuck on babysitting duty around for testing purposes definitely aided in the construction of the deceptively simple sparring room. It had been cleared of all other exercise machines, that way no one would be thrown onto sharp metal edges or heavy weights, and the floors and walls were lined in sturdy mats that even Thor hadn't been able to pound a hole through.

Of course everyone watching the clear as crystal recording was completely distracted from taking in the room when two blue blurs decided they had done enough standing around and removed the space between them like someone had thrown firecrackers at their feet. From the very first clash of tall and broad against long and lean a few things became obvious. Steve was bigger, but Peter was faster, and as for strength, well, that looked to be a dead heat as they attempted to wrestle each other to the ground; arms locked around each other's shoulders.

Sensing the stalemate, Peter moved with a wrenching twist until he could dance back out of reach, crouching low keeping one hand on the mats and one wrist free to shoot off a web in a move to attack or escape; but for now he was just measuring the Captain who was doing much the same but with a pleased grin on his face that the kid wasn't all talk and actually had some skill.

"Not a bad dodge there kid," Natasha complimented as she evaluated the fight. "You made the right choice to pull back and regroup when you couldn't take him down with the first strike. It looks to me though like you are used to taking your opponents by surprise, a good method with your speed and agility, but it leaves you without much practice in head on fighting."

"Yeah, I use surprise a lot," Peter admitted with a shrug, watching himself fight was odd as he and the Cap circled each other again. "I fight at night and the more off-guard someone is when I catch them the less chance there is I might hurt them by accident. If they fight back I have to use more force in catching them, I learned that early on."

Any further reply was cut off as the Steve on the screen took the initiative to attack Peter, diving in low attempting to grab the lanky teen and toss him up and over his shoulder to stun him on the drop. Except it was not the first time Peter had been thrown, and it was easy enough to tuck his body into a roll and he came up swinging, nailing a solid punch on the small of Steve's back that worked with the super-soldier's momentum to turn him around so Peter's other fist could land in his solar plexus knocking the wind out of him and leaving him open to a quick succession of punches and kicks that landed in the same spot intending to bring the larger man to the ground. Steve wasn't going down that easy though, and a sweeping kick took Peter's feet out from under him landing both combatants in a heap on the mats; dragging them into a wrestling match once Steve got massive arms around the elusive teen.

"Having a little trouble there Cap?" Tony ribbed as the two rolled around on the mats, Captain America steadily losing purchase against Spider-Man in the war for dominance. He just couldn't keep ahold of him for long.

The Steve in the room with them cursed his Irish blood for giving him a very obvious blush, because he was turning beet red as he protested. "Trying to grab him is like trying to grip cooked pasta. That kid's all long and lanky, he's strong, but it's all lean muscle, and I swear every time I got my hands on him he was slipping away again."

Peter shuddered as a memory surfaced and he decided to take pity on the captain and explain himself, "I remember what it felt like when the lizard grabbed me the first time we met, he had me completely helpless. I hated that feeling so much that I've spent every second since then insuring that no matter what happens, even if I lose a fight, no one would be able to grab and hold me down like that ever again. I still have the scars he gave me; talk about motivation."

"Looks like you've succeeded," Bruce noted, looking a bit surprised at the footage so far. While he had believed Tony wouldn't deliberately put the teen in danger pitting him in a spar with Steve, he hadn't expected Peter to perform so spectacularly well.

The Avengers could see how Peter intended to wear out Steve, the older man couldn't beat him if he couldn't catch him; even if their strength was evenly matched. The teen flitted around the sparring room, sticking to walls and ceiling as necessary, but willing to grapple on the ground if Steve caught him before he could web off to safety. It was essentially a very violent and elaborate game of tag.

Natasha was the one to notice an oddity to come out of their game. "Spider-Man, why wouldn't you go on the offensive at any point?"

"Why do you think I didn't?" Peter was curious what she could see from the tape, after everything Hawkeye had noticed just from watching it would be interesting to get the Black Widow's take on himself.

"My guess is either you don't have a finishing move, a kill-strike capable of taking down an opponent stronger or bigger than you; or it's not one you're willing to use." She pointed out bluntly.

"Got it in one," Peter admitted with a smile they could see since he had pulled his mask up to his nose so he could eat. "You're actually right on both counts. The way I fight I don't normally have to fight head-on and trying to take someone down like I did yesterday just doesn't happen, I have far more experience with ambush tactics and evading capture. Also I have never killed anyone before and I'm not sure what could bring me to do that at all, so no I don't have a kill strike either literally or figuratively. I have had too many people close to me die in front of me for me to be okay with killing, even if I had to I'm not sure I could."

Tony very quietly paused the video at this point, realizing they had stumbled on a topic that needed discussing. "When Patches brought you here he said you fought against Reindeer Games and his band of Merry Aliens, so how did you manage that without killing?"

It took a second for Peter to work out the nicknames Tony had given Loki and the Chitauri, but once he had, "I mainly webbed them up and disarmed them, I don't carry my own weapons other than my webs so I had to use their own weapons against them. It helped that they didn't look human. I'm honestly not sure if I killed any of them, I might have only disabled them until whatever you did to their mothership took them all out." He admitted.

"Would it have upset you to kill the Chitauri?" Bruce asked softly, trying to figure out the puzzle that was Peter.

It took several long moments of thought before Peter could answer, "Yes, but I would have done it anyway to protect New York and the people I care about. My Uncle Ben and I were watching the news once and it was on a debate about how humanely we should be treating prisoners of war, I was fairly young maybe eight or so, and don't remember much about what the newscasters were saying. The thing I do remember the clearest is Uncle Ben telling me a soldier is a soldier no matter what side they are on, everyone has a right to defend what they love, and no one should be tortured for following an order they didn't give." Peter paused there to take a deep breath, collecting himself and pushing back both good and painful memories, "Uncle Ben and Aunt May both have taught me a lot of things like that and they help me keep fighting like I do. It's okay to fight, to defend, to protect, and if you have the strength to do it then you should be the one out on the street; but at the same time understand that the person you are fighting has the same right to be there as you do. If we go into a fight underestimating how important it is for our opponents to win it, we are going to lose. I didn't understand at the time, I was too little, but I get it now."

Clint's voice was musing as he followed up Peter's comment with an observation, "You know, I can agree with that, because I saw it in action when Loki came here he was desperate and angry, and he wasn't even the mastermind behind everything. He was just attempting to take advantage of the opportunity that fell in his lap. Or should I say, that he fell into when he dropped into Thanos's realm. No one saw the invasion coming because no one knew how badly Loki wanted to fight." Clint didn't like to talk about his time with the Trickster god very often, but his insight could be useful. "My time under his control wasn't a blank exactly. I remember everything, but it's all overshadowed by his voice. In order to give us orders he had to be connected to us, into our minds. In feeling us, we could feel him, the connection was two-way and I got the distinct impression he was not happy about that but he was under orders as much as we were so there wasn't much he could do about it. You would not believe just how much he hates Odin. I mean, if you all thought he was mad at Thor that barely grazes the surface compared to how much he despises Odin. I thought I had family issues, they are nothing compared to that guy."

Tony's eyes narrowed, "Okay, who here has actually read any Norse myths?" Bruce, Natasha, and a bit surprisingly Peter raised their hands, Tony nodding approvingly. "Good, less homework for everyone then. These guys are a crazy ball of mixed up legend and myth, with a dash of what the fuck; and frankly I'm curious to know how much of it is true. Did you pick up any of Rock of Ages history while being snuggle buddies, Legolas?"

"Other than enough daddy issues for a herd of therapists and a case to make Maury salivate, I'm not sure. He's locked down any history from before finding out he was adopted, can't tell you whether that's deliberate or not." Clint revealed easily, swiping up the last of the grease on his plate with a piece of toast.

"Why the sudden interest in history Tony?" Bruce knew Tony had to have a point, but could be easily distracted before making it.

When Tony looked up his eyes were hard, "When someone attacks my home I want to know why. If all we were was collateral damage in a family feud then we need to knock Thor and Loki's heads together until they realize Midgard shouldn't be the rope in their tug-of-war with dear old dad. That's a simple enough fix, and quite honestly the best case scenario at this point, because a kid throwing a tantrum can be taught better manners. If this was planned aggression, if Loki did this of his own volition intending to wipe us out then we are SOL because he's going to keep coming back stronger, harder, and better than the last time. I for one don't want to get in a war with the God of Mischief and Lies, I don't see how that could possibly end well. He might have lost one battle, but that doesn't mean he can't win the war; time is on his side not ours. The myths I read weren't the funny ones about the horse or the crossdressing, it was about how fucking powerful these guys are, and crafty, and freaking insane. I think we forget too easily that as easy-going as Thor is he is over a thousand years old, and Loki isn't much younger. We CANNOT underestimate these two, ever, or we will get taken down." Tony was easily underestimated himself, he was familiar with the feeling, also he had been captured and held prisoner before. Much like Peter he had spent all his energy on making sure that never happened again. He evaluated and eliminated threats as soon as they developed, and preferably before they became a true problem.

"For what it's worth, I think Loki's motivations lie more with the first option, he's using us to get back at Odin and Thor." Clint threw his two cents in. "From what I was able to gather both from watching Thor in New Mexico and being under Loki's control Odin has had a soft spot for Midgard since the Viking Age and it played a large role in deciding where Thor would be banished to, and once Thor developed a similar fondness for us Loki was able to use that to get back at both of them with one strike. He wouldn't have done it alone though, he was furious and hurt, but has never been stupid. He knows better than to take on a whole realm by himself, especially one protected by Odin and Thor, so he took the opportunity Thanos offered him by taking command of the Chitauri army. In all honesty, if I was in his shoes, I'm not so sure I would have turned Thanos down because it would be like having your darkest desire handed to you on a silver platter while in your most vulnerable state of mind. I know that's what it was for him, because I saw it, I felt it, and more importantly I felt what consequences Thanos extracted from Loki for failure. You all thought Loki was the leader, but he wasn't, not by a long-shot. He was just another soldier in Thanos's war."

Tony whistled, "What's this? Could this possibly be empathy from you my dear sweet Katniss?"

"I can still hate the guy even if I understand him," Clint grumbled, "Explaining a behavior does not excuse it. He has a lot to answer for if he wants a personal forgiveness."

Natasha spoke up for Clint, the two of them entwined on the couch now, he was the only one she trusted with casual touch even now. He'd had the means, skill, and motive to kill her, and still hadn't taken the shot, instead he put his own neck on the line to get her away from her hellish life and into SHIELDs custody. For that she didn't just trust him with her life, she trusted him with her sanity, her safety, and herself. "Don't look so surprised. Everyone here knows what we are, what SHIELD sometimes has us do, death and killing is something we have to get used to in our world. Clint and I are two of the world's best assassins, we take different jobs because we have different skills, he kills from a distance, I kill from up close, but in the end our targets are just as dead. Why do you think out of all the Agents that have been sent after me, it was this one that got me in the crosshairs? He saw threw me and around me, cut off my escapes, and didn't let me near enough to use my own tricks against him. He was the perfect foil for the Black Widow. The thing is, he had to learn all that somewhere, if you really think Clint is shy about killing and what Loki did was going to utterly disable him, think again."

"I already went over this," Clint rolled his eyes, "It wasn't the fact Loki made me kill that makes me hate him, I do the same thing for SHIELD if the situation calls for it, we all did in the battle for New York a few days ago if you remember. It was that he didn't let me chose for myself. I was killing my own people. That was my problem. I won't lie and say there aren't a few new nightmares in the rotation but that comes with the territory of being an assassin, ditto for sleeping with a knife in my hand. I will bet good money Tony and Bruce have the same dreams, and probably Steve when he does let himself sleep."

The three people in question just nodded, words were unnecessary since Clint was right.

Peter wasn't sure if his question would be well-received but he just couldn't help himself, "Natasha, what about you?"

"The Red Room stole my dreams from me, both good and bad," That was a side-effect of her incomplete serum, the inability to dream. "As for killing, well, I'm the best. I had to be. The only one on this team I'd be willing to spar with is Clint because he knows how I fight and is trained to counter me, I'm different than the rest of you. I don't have anything but kill strikes, not when I'm fighting seriously anyway. I'm similar to you Spider-Man in a way, the Widow program trained us in ambush fighting, but the goal was never capture, it was always kill. When an organization contracted the Black Widow they wanted the target dead. Our sparring, even when training against the other Widows, was death matches. Last one standing got the title and the right to live." Clint's arm tightened minutely around her as she spoke and she leaned in to him, the movement so small it would be hard for anyone else to notice the exchange of comfort, but she needed it.

"They didn't want a soldier, they wanted a machine," Bruce realized sadly.

All Natasha did was nod.


End file.
